World Record Halibut Weighing 515 Pounds Captured by German Angler

Every fisherman angles for a bigger catch. The dream came true for a German angler who made a catch of a lifetime by reeling in a huge halibut off the coast of Norway smashing world records.

The German angler Marco Liebenow initially believed that he had hooked into a submarine , but in fact it was a 515 pound halibut, the largest ever , which broke the previous world record.

According to the International Game Fishing Association (IGFA), the present record is held by a 450 pounds Pacific halibut that was captured in 1996 off the coast of Alaska. In 2004, a 418 pounds Atlantic halibut was captured in Norway.

The German angler along with his three friends battled for more than 90 minutes to reel in the 9-feet enormous flatfish halibut, heavier than a wild gorilla, to the water surface. The halibut was too big to be hauled on to the fisherman's boat. They hoisted it with the help of a crane on the dock and later the great catch was donated to a local fish dealer.

The flatfish Halibut are demersal fish that reside in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. They are an important food source of the Native Americans. They are known to be the largest flat fish and they feed on any animal that easily fits into their mouth such as crabs, salmon, lamprey and flounder.

David Bottcher from the fishing tour company, Angelreisen Hamburg, which organized the fishing trip to Kjollefjord, told the Daily Mail, "Before he left for the trip, he called us first to ask for a few hints about how and where to fish - I guess our advice paid off. It looks like it is a world record for a halibut but we are waiting to have it confirmed."

The latest catch easily beats the existing record. Liebenow has submitted a claim to the IGFA and is waiting for an approval from the association.